11-27-2006, 11:34 PM
I was very happy yesterday. You started hearing sounds through the media to bring back Sourav Ganguly, not just as a player, but as a captain. Now people have started understanding what a captain, what a leader of men means. Its not anybody who can be a captain. Somebody who is a great batsman or a great bowler need not be a great captain, somebody who has shown repeated instances of commitment of the highest order need not make a great captain. Tendulkar was all of these, yet he did not make a great captain. In the phase where Azhar started waning and then during Tendulkar's captaincy we saw acute problem of leadership in Indian cricket. Then Sourav Ganguly came and despite grave constraints built up a team with the sheer force of his personality and delivered numerous successes with the team. Then as is wont of us Indians, when something is available we start to take it for granted. Did not realise how much of everything would have gone in shaping up such a unit. We think a captain should lead from the front by scoring most runs or taking wickets. But what matters is whether the team wins under you and its collective win by the entire team in all departments. That determines your true value as a captain. What's the point of you scoring a 100, but your team losing. If you are a player its okay, but if you are a captain, your job's not done by just scoring runs. The first performance criteria for a captain is leading his team to victories. Scoring runs, getting wickets, making personal milestones comes next.
Also I think Ganguly took his eye of the task towards the later part. Maybe he became very comfortable, maybe he took his captaincy and hence a place in the Indian team for granted. Or maybe with loss of form, he focussed on his batting and forgot what was his greatness as a captain, that of his skills in leading a team. Maybe he required a jolt, a shake up but not the one that was given to him. Also selectors felt their stand was vindicated because of the early successes of Dravid. But thats where people dont realise, it was still Ganguly's team that was performing. Dravid's captaincy skills are being tested now, not in the first few games where he won. Now it is Dravid's team. Lets give him chance and see whether he can give his team a strong character that Ganguly gave and bounce back. But I still reckon Ganguly's captaincy skills far higher than those of Dravid for he lead his men on the field and off it. He tried to gain control on each and every element, be it selection or coaching to ensure success of the team. I beleive captaincy is only 20% on the field, the rest 80% is off it and Ganguly is the best man for that job. Maybe this desire to get control on each and every thing was what brought Ganguly down, when politics turned against him, but because he took the risk, because he tried he was able to build a strong team and lead India to victories. Anyway I'm just happy that support for Sourav is building up. Who knows he may as well lead us into the coming World Cup and succeed where he failed last time i.e. winning in the finals and beating the Aussies. Hoo Haa India, Aaya India
Also I think Ganguly took his eye of the task towards the later part. Maybe he became very comfortable, maybe he took his captaincy and hence a place in the Indian team for granted. Or maybe with loss of form, he focussed on his batting and forgot what was his greatness as a captain, that of his skills in leading a team. Maybe he required a jolt, a shake up but not the one that was given to him. Also selectors felt their stand was vindicated because of the early successes of Dravid. But thats where people dont realise, it was still Ganguly's team that was performing. Dravid's captaincy skills are being tested now, not in the first few games where he won. Now it is Dravid's team. Lets give him chance and see whether he can give his team a strong character that Ganguly gave and bounce back. But I still reckon Ganguly's captaincy skills far higher than those of Dravid for he lead his men on the field and off it. He tried to gain control on each and every element, be it selection or coaching to ensure success of the team. I beleive captaincy is only 20% on the field, the rest 80% is off it and Ganguly is the best man for that job. Maybe this desire to get control on each and every thing was what brought Ganguly down, when politics turned against him, but because he took the risk, because he tried he was able to build a strong team and lead India to victories. Anyway I'm just happy that support for Sourav is building up. Who knows he may as well lead us into the coming World Cup and succeed where he failed last time i.e. winning in the finals and beating the Aussies. Hoo Haa India, Aaya India